5 Ways I Failed the Social in Social Media

After more than a little nudging, cajoling, and downright shoving, I finally joined social media.

As an introvert, this was a huge leap. For those of you that are extroverted, imagine spending a month on vacation. By yourself. Deep in the woods. Completely cut-off from civilization. Without cell service or the Internet.

You get the point.

After having spent a few weeks attempting to embrace social media, there are a few things that have come to light:

1. My Life Isn’t Very Post-Worthy DD1 has dance class and gymnastics. DD2 is a willful toddler we don’t like to take places unless they’re very child friendly. DH and I both work full time, then come home and take care of two young children. No restaurants, concerts, or exotic vacations.

2. Being “Social” is a Lotta Work – I have to get up earlier in the morning to check my social media sites, respond, comment, like, whatever. Then, I have to figure out something witty or important to say. See #1 above.

3. Political Posts are Everywhere – Newbie, remember, but I had no idea some of the ideals certain friends and family held, and I am more surprised that few seem to realize that their posts only appeal to those that already agree with them.

4. Not Really Connecting – It’s social media, so it must be social, but I haven’t figured out the skill of actually “connecting” with people. Again, I’m still new at it, but it feels more like a barrage of stuff comes through my feed, none of which I (or anyone else) spends more than a few moments looking at and then “liking”. Which brings me to…

5. Why Didn’t You “Like” That? – it’s harder to politely ignore or redirect conversations (see #3 and #4). And people know if you didn’t like and share their posts. Never thought I’d ever have to tell someone: No, I didn’t “like” your political post. No, it didn’t make me see things your way. No, I’m not a red commy bastard (I know for a fact my parents were married when I was born). And yes, I still like you and consider you a friend even if I don’t agree with you on this thing you posted.

How about you? How long have you been dong social media? Do you find it easy? How long did it take you to really get into it and understand it? Any secrets to really connecting with people or how you make interesting posts?

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I’m with you on the social media train, in the back cart where it is incredibly difficult. My favorite so far is Pinterest. Which gets way too much flack for being the social media for girls. It is great and really it is social media for introverts and people who like pictures. I’ve been trying to make boards for my pieces as I work on them. No politics that I’ve seen, no demands or pouts about liking or following, just these images are good. It is also more about those projects than my dull life.

Facebook and twitter I still don’t have a handle on. And I think part of it is that it can take time. I don’t know if that is true but that’s what I’m telling myself.

I think so. I know I’ve heard some people talk about poor click though and poor purchase rates from twitter especially. I think it isn’t really about that. But I don’t know what it is for, and it feels to me like something that is about having a casual conversation with anyone and people you wouldn’t normally. But that sounds exhausting to me too. Pinterest has been actually useful for me though. Which feels like the best endorsement of a social media I can give.

I tried Kristen Lamb’s recommendations on setting up for twitter and facebook. I spend less than 15 minutes a day on both. This little time has gained me some 250 ‘followers’ on twitter and over 100 on facebook. When, if, I publish, with one post on facebook and a few tweets, I will have brought it before several hundred potential readers.
In the meantime, if they like what I tweet and post, they may be inclined to read my blog site (under development.)
I follow the #mywana group on twitter among others. Here I regularly find links to great blogs devoted to writing improvement.
Anyway, for me and the way I approach social media…

Sort of. I think that’s the way to go. I’m kind of mashing them up right now but I’m trying to be more coherent in the way I’m putting it together, both for myself (again, actually useful!) and for the I’m an author aspect.

When I have something I need to look up that is an image thing, I want a reference. For Oak Stream Hollow I was struggling with clothing and thinking about something that would look right in the situation, so I searched on Pinterest and found some and pinned those. I also found some cool dryad kinds of images.

The wedding board is the super easy and obvious one. But others too have been useful. There’s someone I really recommend you look at because she also writes historical fantasy so she does a good job of promoting and what I think is useful for her.

I’m with you, I tend to prefer a keyboard to a crowded room… and social media just isn’t my style. I grew up during the twilight of the person-to-person relationship, before the dawn of the Social Media Age so it all just seems awkward. Ugh, I’ll adjust eventually.